An Imperfect Adventure

The Adventurous Life

We decided on a plan: full steam ahead and ram the dam.

We called it CFIT Dam, and it clogged the Dardenne Creek Blueway, a 19-mile waterway that winds through St. Charles County and dumps into the Mississippi River.

CFIT (pronounced see-fit) is my friend Rob’s nickname, and it stands for “controlled flight into terrain.” He’s a former fighter pilot, and that’s what they call flying into unexpected things—for example, when they fly into a mountain they didn’t know was there. CFIT Dam seemed like a fitting name because Rob and I didn’t know the “dam” (tightly compacted branches, logs, and debris that had collected after heavy storms in recent days) existed until we arrived in front of it in our kayaks.

We paddled back and forth looking for a way through it. We were only an hour into what we hoped would be a six- to eight-hour trip, so we didn’t want to turn around yet. We needed to defeat this unexpected obstacle. “It feels like a mission,” I said, and as it turns out, it was a mission that went poorly, at least at first.

Every decision we made to conquer CFIT Dam was the right one, but they all turned out wrong. We tried to portage around it, but when I got out of my kayak and planted my feet, the riverbed gave way. I slid down until I was in water up to my chest. As I clumsily climbed back into my kayak, I looked like a baby giraffe scrambling into a shopping cart.

We found a ramp where we could get on shore, and once there, we immediately stepped into mud up to our ankles and still couldn’t find a way to walk around the dam.

I suggested we should make one more attempt at going through CFIT Dam because I knew Rob would say yes, and he did even better than that.

“Full steam ahead and ram it?” he said.

That sounded like a fun, if not an especially good, plan.

Delightful Dardenne

I have wanted to kayak the Dardenne Creek Blueway since the rst 3.5-mile phase (the first of five phases toward completion) opened in 2022. Now all 19 miles are open, and mile 15 runs just a few hundred yards behind my house in Cottleville.

Delights abounded on a clear, cool Thursday morning at the launching point, Riverside Landing Park, where Dardenne Creek meets the Mississippi River in St. Charles County. A bald eagle soared over the parking lot, a half dozen turtles sunned themselves on a log, and the midmorning blue of the sky contrasted with the late spring green of the leaves in such a way that I wanted to stare at it, study it, absorb it.

Heading southwest, I put my paddle in the water—right, left, right, left. e creek was wide and smooth, ideal for beginners and good practice for veterans who want to get miles in.

Snakes slithered by, their heads poking out of the water. Buzzards played in the thermals above. Trees arched over the water, creating cool shade. We crept into a clearing, and the sun warmed my neck. All was right with the world—until we arrived at the damn dam.

Ram the Dam

“Full steam ahead and ram it,” as Rob had suggested, was indeed a fun, though not especially good, plan. We learned CFIT Dam was made of a thousand little pieces, and ramming them just pushed them closer together, which hurt more than it helped.

Next, Rob began dispersing logs with his paddles. If we dislodged the right one, we hoped, the whole thing would drift apart like a floating Jenga tower. “Operation clean stream!” he said, and while the progress was slow, it was progress. It felt like we were doing the next kayakers a favor. Eventually we carved a path through and journeyed on, a potential bummer of a day redeemed.

I share all of this because CFIT Dam made us laugh while giving the day texture and my bloodstream a jolt of adventure adrenaline. There’s also this: It shows that while the blueway is safe and slow, it’s also wild, and the dam served as proof that there are no guarantees in life or with adventure.

Some days you have smooth water from beginning to end.

Some days you run into CFIT Dam. With a challenge like that, win or lose, I win.

The only thing I love more than an adventure that goes perfectly is one that doesn’t.

Entry Points

Riverside Landing Park
St. Charles
Northeastern terminus
(kayaks available to rent)

370 Lakeside Park
St. Peters

Lone Wolff Park
St. Peters
(temporarily closed for repairs)

Jack Gettemeyer Park
St. Peters

Woodland Sports Park
St. Peters
(coming soon)

Bluebird Meadow Park
Dardenne Prairie
Southwestern terminus

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This article was orginally printed in the September 2026 issue of Missouri Life.